Hosts SA dominate swimming tourney

TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – HOSTS South Africa have no intention of slowing down as the medal continued to pour in at the 12th African Swimming Championships in Bloemfontein.

At the Stadium Swimming Pool in Port Elizabeth, hometown girl Kaylene Corbette (17) led the charge, winning the 50m breaststroke final and breaking the 2008 Championship Record of 32.64, when she touched the wall in a golden time of 32.58.

Teammate Hanim Abrahams came a close second in 33.08 and Egypt’s Mai Atef third in 33.44.

In the 400m freestyle, Caitlin Kat came out tops in 4:24.74. SA’s Jessica Whelan was in the lead for the first three laps but Kat’s sprint in the last 200m proved too strong and Whelan finished with the bronze in 4:29.68, while Algeria’s Souad Nefissa Cherouna came second in 4:26.44.

Mariella Venter was quick off the block in the 100m backstroke, easily winning the race in 1:02.44, over three seconds ahead of Seychelles’ Alexus Laird in 1:05.53 and Egypt’s Ingy Abouzaid in 1:06.50.

Martin Binedell and Neil Fair were too quick for Egypt’s Ahmed Hamdy, walking away with the gold and silver in the 200m backstroke in 2:03.43 and 2:04.33, respectively, to Hamdy’s bronze time of 2:07.45.

In the 50m butterfly, Douglas Erasmus added another gold medal to the host nation’s tally in 24.33, while Alard Basson claimed the bronze in 24.83 and Egypt’s Hassan Yasser the silver in 24.64.

Algeria grabbed their second gold in the 100m freestyle, with Oussama Sahnoune claiming the gold in a new Championship Record time of 49.60 ahead of Mzansi’s Calvyn Justus in 50.21 and Egypt’s Mohamed Samy in 50.29.

The 4 x 100m freestyle ladies relay saw Algeria take home the gold in 4:00.92 ahead of Egypt in 4:06.62, while the South African team was disqualified due to a false start.

In the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay, Myles Brown, Josh Dannhauser, Brent Szurdoki and Calvyn Justus claimed the gold in 7:36.80 to end the evening on a high note ahead of Egypt in 7:38.89 and Morocco in 8:10.37.